Tuesday, July 12, 2011

"They have to prove it, or else I'm a murderer too."

The words of one of the jurors, Jennifer Ford, should give encouragement that many of our neighbors can rise above the Madame Defarge lynch-mob mindset. As Ms. Ford so well expressed it: "If they want to charge and they want me to take someone’s life, they have to prove it. They have to prove it, or else I’m a murderer too."

Duh. If there's any hope at all for this whole "rule of law" thing, that concept better damn well be buried deeply in the DNA of every juror of every trial, all the f#$kin' time. Make those malignant bastards work for every conviction they seek. Consider nullification every time, and do it when necessary, with absolutely no regard to "case law". And when they whine at you that you're making their jobs difficult, say "it's the least I can do for someone who will stab me in the back at his first opportunity". They want convictions, you want justice, and the two are not--let me repeat,

NOT

the same thing. You do not want their jobs to be "easier". You do not want them to want their jobs at all. You want them to feel like if they do something wrong, that they will pay personally, and severely. (That is, you want them to feel just like you do now. Note the "stab in the back" reference above.)

Anyway, Shaffer gets uncharacteristically contrived with his interlude imagery in the middle of this piece, but if you ignore that (and he's earned that sort of respect) it's typical gold.

I have no defense to make of Casey Anthony as a person or a mother. I don’t know that much about her to make any such judgment. Her alleged failure to notify anyone of Caylee’s being missing until thirty-one days later does not impress me as the epitome of responsible motherhood. But the jury was not assigned the task of judging this woman’s character. They understood what Dennis and Amelia did not: individuals are responsible for the consequences of their actions. In a world in which we have become accustomed to dealing with one another in highly abstract ways, it is easy for any of us to express opinions – or courses of action – without feeling any sense of responsibility for what we have put in motion.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I'm sorry, when someone doesn't report their child is missing after 30 days only a fool believes this is normal. Only a fool thinks nothing is amiss when someone in a criminal investigation is caught in lie after lie.

Perhaps OJ was innocent but thats not what most people believe. Having served on juries I am only too aware of individuals lacking both common sense and judgement.

And the irony of how things really work continues to be completely lost on you, buried within the simple prurience of your frothing jones for righteous vengeance, doesn't it?

This has nothing to do with the guilt or innocence of Casey Anthony. Nothing. This is about the value of a "justice system" whose executors fully expect to be rubberstamped on every occasion, without having to actually do the job that the very concept of a "justice system" would demand. Such pedantica is simply beneath them, now, and we tolerate it.

And for our Faustian politeness, we are (predictably) rewarded with an increasingly corrupt system that could ensnare any one of us, any day, for any reason, whether we're aware of it or not. That means me, and that means you too, whether or not you acknowledge it.

Liberty is not secured by singing along with the chorus over the obviously haloed, gleaming-star-on-tooth, lifelong friend with whom anyone can identify. It is only secure when you can confer exactly the same respect upon the grubbiest, meanest, nastiest example of humanity you can imagine.

That latter demographic just might include Casey Anthony; like Shaffer, I don't know, personally (and neither do you), and since liberty is either for everyone or it is for no one, it doesn't really matter anyway. She draws sapient breath? Then she has the same rights as you do, including the right to walk free if the state fails to prove its case.

Tell ya what: you show me where I (or either of the folks I link to here) make a defense for Casey Anthony, and I'll publish an apology.